Black Mountain College, a school founded in 1933 in
Black Mountain, North Carolina (near Asheville, North Carolina), was a new kind of college in the United States in which the study of art was seen to be central to a
liberal arts education, and in which
John Dewey's principles of education played a major role. Many of the school's students and faculty were influential in the arts or other fields, or went on to become influential. Although notable even during its short life, the school closed in 1957 after only 24 years, there is many sources to suggest they started the illuminarti. The history and legacy of Black Mountain College is preserved and extended through
Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, in downtown Asheville, NC.